Following the School District of Philadelphia’s announcement of proposed school closures under its facilities plan, several community engagement sessions were held at Northwest Philadelphia schools on the evening of Feb. 4.

Lankenau Environmental Science Magnet High School and Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice both saw large crowds turn up to show their support for keeping the schools open. The district will submit its recommendations before the Board of Education on Feb. 26.

Lankenau

Students, administrators, parents, and other supporters wearing “Don’t sell Lankenau Environmental” T-shirts filled a packed auditorium to rally against the school’s closure. Other people were sent to an overflow room, while guests such as state Sen. Sharif Street and City Councilmember Cindy Bass made appearances.

Oz Hill, deputy superintendent of operations for the school district, gave a presentation on its recommendations for Lankenau, merging the school into Roxborough High School as an honors program. He emphasized that the Lankenau community’s thoughts would be heard.

“​​Your voices matter,” Hill said. “Your advocacy matters. You matter at the core of this project. I would be remiss if I didn’t highlight the extraordinary presence that each of our students brings to this process and to this conversation.”

Hill discussed the school district’s goal to retain every student affected by the plan and to have a transition team working in concert with Lankenau and Roxborough to best facilitate the acclimation process.

Following the brief presentation, Hill and Tomás Hanna, associate superintendent of school performance (secondary) for the school district, fielded questions and listened to statements from the crowd.

Many of the remarks iterated the importance of Lankenau’s location, situated among 400 acres of woods near the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education in Upper Roxborough. With this land, Lankenau provides unique learning opportunities such as birdwatching and beekeeping clubs. Others focused on the external opportunities available through Lankenau, such as participating in the Philadelphia Flower Show or getting internships at locations such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the Academy of Natural Sciences. Still others brought up Lankenau’s 100% graduation rate.

“I don’t discount for a moment that there is magic inside of these walls,” Hill said. “But what I’m also sharing with you is that if we take that magic and expand it with all of the great programming that you have here right now, enhance that with more extracurricular activities, enhance that with expanded academic programming — the sky is the limit.”

Many speakers also highlighted their positive experiences at Lankenau and how they benefited from the close-knit community of 225 enrolled students. With a school tucked away in the woods far from any SEPTA routes, members of the community expressed a sense of safety at Lankenau. They voiced their concerns over Roxborough’s relative safety.

Although Lankenau is not in either of their districts, Street and Bass said they opposed the plan to close the school.

“We’re not just closing a school, we’re really disrupting the lives of young people. [It’s not] just a transition from one building to another building. There’s so much more than that,” Bass told the district’s officials. “I just really had to say that because I think it’s really important that you hear not just from the community … but also the folks who are voting for your budget.”

At times, the auditorium got rowdy as impassioned people raised their voices. Maria Fernando, the school’s nurse, received one of the loudest cheers of the evening.

“I just have a message for Mayor Parker,” Fernando said. “Take your housing project somewhere else.”

Parkway Northwest

On the same evening, faculty, students, and parents from Parkway Northwest in Germantown met with school district officials.

Parkway Northwest is a small school offering a college preparatory program “designed to promote peace and social justice through the use of critical thinking, problem solving, cooperative learning, and research.”

The school is slated to close in fall 2027 as part of the recent announcement. The school would be folded into neighboring Martin Luther King High School in Germantown, as an honors program. Current students would not have to reapply to the program, according to school officials at the meeting.

The 2026-27 school year would be a planning year to receive feedback and work with students preparing to transfer.

The message from faculty, students, and parents was clear: They hated the decision. A long line formed behind the microphone stand with attendees waiting to ask questions and make statements.

Several students spoke about the tight-knit community at Parkway Northwest, and the fear of losing that community after it’s integrated into MLK.

April Anderson, a Parkway Northwest parent and MLK graduate, spoke at the meeting, saying, “I don’t agree with the merge, just because I never wanted my child to go to [MLK] because I know what my experience at [MLK] was like.”

Anderson and several other parents spoke about safety concerns at MLK and their reluctance to send their children there.

School district officials responded by mentioning investment in safety programs being implemented at MLK.

Nearing the scheduled end of the two-hour meeting, a long line of attendees remained waiting to make statements.

Maggie Dougherty can be reached at Margaret@chestnuthilllocal.com and Tommy Tucker can be reached at Tommy@chestnuthilllocal.com.